“Sadr Movement Won’t Accept US Dictates on Iran”

Zia Assadi referred to the latest threats by the US officials against Iran and said the Sadr bloc have fought hard for Iraq’s independence to stand firm against others’ will and desires.

According to a report by IRNA, Assadi underlined that the Islamic Republic of Iran is Iraq’s neighbour and the two sides have historical, cultural, social, economic, and trade commonalities.

“We don’t take US demands of Iran seriously,” he said, adding it is no secret anymore that the US demands have no end and the country doesn’t care about other nations’ interests.

“The US government is focused on preserving the interests of weapons manufacturers and the Zionist lobby groups and to this end, it is ready to stand even against its own nation’s interests,” he added.

He underlined that the movement will never give in to the will of others, including the US, because Washington’s policies have ended up in failure in the region putting it in deep troubles.

“Muqtada al-Sadr will never allow foreign powers to use Iraq’s soil for waging war on any neighbouring state,” he said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Assadi said as announced repeatedly in the past, the US president in Iraq is acceptable only in diplomatic areas and within the legal authorities of its embassy in Baghdad which should be equal to that of the authorities of Iraqi embassy in Washington.

“The US military presence in Iraq is not acceptable for us because it is not at the request of Iraqi government. The incumbent and previous governments have announced explicitly that they have never called for growing US military presence in Iraq.”

The Iraqi politician also rejected as baseless any reports on confidential relations between Muqtada al-Sadr and Saudi Arabia and said the latest visit by the Iraqi cleric to Saudi Arabia was made with the aim of reducing the tensions in the region and creating moderate ties between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Assadi blasted meddlesome tweets by Saudi Arabia’s former ambassador to Iraq, Thamer al-Sabhan, and said Sabhan has created tensions in Iraq’s domestic politics over the past years.

“Muqtada al-Sadr views any meddlesome move in Iraq’s politics as a great mistake and underlines that Iraq should remain independent,” he said.

Following the victory of Sadr’s bloc in Iraq’s parliamentary election, a flurry of reports by Saudi-led media has emerged on Muqtada Sadr’s position in Iraq’s politics and his role in the creation of the new government in the Arab country.

Over the past days, Muqtada al-Sadr held separate meetings with rival political leaders, ushering in what could be an extended period of negotiations over the formation of a new government.

The Sadr bloc took 54 out of 328 seats in the May 12 vote.